Spider-Man has, for the most part, been an infallible IP for Sony. The Spider-Man films have been consistently successful—both critically and financially—making the Wall-Crawler one of Sony’s most important brands. Given the character’s popularity, Sony decided to try its hand at a superhero universe of its own. Out of that desire came Sony’s Universe of Marvel characters, a franchise comprised of spinoffs based on characters from across Spidey‘s sandbox.
The franchise kicked off in 2018 with Venom, starring Tom Hardy. The film became an unexpected hit, grossing over $800 million against a reported $100 million budget. Then, came 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which was a moderate-yet-impressive success,…